NCSoft said Friday it has launched an entertainment subsidiary Klap to expand its business portfolio. According to the South Korean game company, it established Klap on July 13 and invested 800 million won ($675,000) to control 66.7 percent of the subsidiary. Klap has 14 business objectives including video, webcomics, an online music service and internet broadcasting. Kim Taek-hun, senior vice president and chief publishing officer at NCSoft, has been appointed as the CEO of Klap. Also, N

SK Innovation’s battery business is facing uncertainties in the US as Congressman Doug Collins is accusing the firm of hiring Korean workers illegally to displace American workers at its two factories under construction in Jackson County, Georgia. On Wednesday, the congressman sent a letter to the directors of Immigration (ICE) and Customs Enforcement and Customs and Border Patrol (CBP) to investigate an alleged illegal employment scheme surrounding two battery plants worth $2.6 billion

SeAH Steel Holdings said Thursday it will participate in Britain’s state-led offshore wind power project to supply key parts. The South Korean steel firm said it has signed a memorandum of understanding with the UK’s Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy to construct the world’s biggest monopile production facility. A monopile is a simple structure consisting of a steel pipe driven into the seabed, providing a fixed foundation for an offshore wind turbine

Electric vehicle pioneer Tesla wants to make its own batteries, as they account for more than 40 percent of auto parts. Its ambition became official after Joerg Steinbach, economy minister for the state of Brandenburg in Germany, confirmed that Tesla will manufacture powerful batteries with “completely new technology” at Gigafactory Berlin. So here’s the question: When Tesla starts producing its own batteries and even sells them to other automakers, will it hurt Korean ba

Smilegate said Thursday its games will be published in the European and North American markets exclusively by Amazon Games. According to the Korean game company, its subsidiary Smilegate RPG signed an exclusive publishing contract with Amazon Games and will publish one of its most popular titles in both markets by next year. “Amazon Games is the most suitable partner to help Smilegate enter European and North American markets, as Amazon is equipped with its own streaming platform Twit

Korea Aerospace Industries said Wednesday it will supply an additional two units of Chamsuri choppers to police. According to South Korea’s sole aircraft manufacturer, it signed a contract worth 47.1 billion won ($39.8 million) with the Public Procurement Service to supply two Chamsuri helicopters -- a police version of the military helicopter Surion -- to police by February 2023. “The police will be able to expand their mission capabilities such as transporting emergency patien

Even the best of intentions can fall flat without full attention to vital details. The Korea Herald looks into flaws and shortcomings of Korea’s green policies. – Ed.  To revive a comatose economy amid the coronavirus outbreak, Moon last month came up with his own answer: a Korean Green New Deal. As part of his Green New Deal initiative, Moon looks to the offshore wind farm sector to create 87,000 jobs a year by generating a total capacity of 12 gigawatts -- enough to power

S-Oil said Tuesday it will utilize idle spaces at gas stations to establish an electric bike-sharing hub to provide parking, charging and maintenance services. According to the South Korean refiner, it will collaborate with electric bike-sharing app Elecle and open an “Elecle Zone” at gas stations where users can return electric bikes after use. S-Oil will expand the partnership with Elecle by adding charging and maintenance services. It is also planning similar services to ele

A Seoul court revoked the antitrust watchdog’s requests to suspend the business of Hanwha Systems and limit its rights to participate in public biddings, according to industry sources on Monday. In a lawsuit Hanwha Systems filed against the Fair Trade Commission, the Seoul High Court decided to revoke the FTC’s business restrictions on Hanwha Systems, saying the FTC cannot punish the firm for the misconduct previously committed by a company it had acquired. Hanwha Systems bought

Leading technology firms in Korea are returning to remote working systems, as the country saw triple-digit increases of new virus cases for a fourth straight day Monday. SK Telecom, Korea’s No. 1 mobile carrier by market share, said Monday that it notified all staff and executives to work from home until Aug. 23 and provided specific guidelines on how to prevent infections. “Reschedule every face-to-face activity including meetings and gatherings. During telecommuting, refrain fr

Hanwha Power Systems said Thursday it plans to generate electricity using pressure from gas pipelines. According to South Korea’s leading industrial air compressor maker, it will develop a system that can transform natural gas decompression energy into electrical energy. “High pressure gas has to be decompressed to low pressure gas before it is distributed to households. In the process, the gas expands, emitting energy. Hanwha Power Systems aims to tap this energy by installing

Unity said Thursday its game engine will check the safety of Doosan’s construction sites inside virtual reality. Unity Technologies Korea signed a memorandum of understanding with South Korean machinery manufacturer Doosan Infracore to verify the safety of construction sites by running a simulation inside a virtual reality built by Unity’s game engine. “Based on Unity’s game engine, the simulator will allow Doosan Infracore to accurately predict potential variables t

The ratio of mountainside solar farms has declined from 39.2 percent in 2017 to 32.5 percent in 2018 and 31.5 percent in 2019, according to the Ministry of Industry, Trade and Energy. However, the scale of such solar farms has increased. In 2016, 529 hectares of mountainside solar farms were built. After President Moon Jae-in took office, 1,435 ha, 2,443 ha and 1,024 ha of solar farms were newly built in 2017, 2018 and 2019, respectively. As of Sunday, 12 landslides have occurred at mountai

Hanwha Q Cells said Wednesday it has received a prestigious award in Germany, taking the first place in the electrical industry category, topping major local players including R. Stahl and Dehn und Söhne. Arranged by German publication Focus Money, the award commissioned the Institute for Management and Economic Research to analyze 15.7 million online customer responses on some 5,000 companies across 270 industries and chose the most reputable companies evaluated by various categories. P

The Port of Busan, where some 1,240 tons of ammonium nitrate are stored, is drawing criticism from worried local residents as there is no unified command center to manage the explosive material -- the cause of a deadly explosion in Beirut, Lebanon. According to local sources, the entry, exit, storage and monitoring of the material in question are conducted separately, leaving a loophole in proper management. Currently, when ships carrying ammonium nitrate enter or leave the port, the Busan P